In case you missed it, political outsider, successful business leader, and Republican nominee for US Senate Joe O'Dea hosted an educational roundtable with U.S. Senator Tim Scott. Also participating were State Board of Education Members Steve Durham and Joyce Rankin, State Representative Colin Larson, State Senator Paul Linden, Dr. Brenda Dickhoner of Ready Colorado, and State Board of Education candidate Molly Lamar.
“We’ve seen in Colorado, the numbers have gone per student that we’re investing in but the scores haven’t gone up at the same rate. We’ve got to reshape the system to address to make sure we help the students that fell behind,” said Joe O’Dea.
“The two biggest issues: parents being involved, and the lack of quality education, especially for Title I schools, reverberates in every sector of our society and it doesn’t stop,” said U.S. Senator Tim Scott.
One problem Senator Scott identified as especially troubling is the tremendous amount of unspent money allocated to schools in the Biden stimulus.
Senator Scott said if the Senate could be flipped this year Republicans could help pass a bill to address this problem and provide parents with more choice.
“To think that there’s close to $100 billion sitting on the sidelines, the legislation would allow for a percentage of that money to go the parents, to either hire the tutors the kids need so they can catch up from the learning loss, or backpack some of the money and go to a different school. My vision is giving the parents as many options as possible so that their kid has the best chance to succeed,” added Senator Scott.
Dr. Brenda Dickhoner of Ready Colorado mentioned many of the school districts falling behind in Colorado are communities of color, but that charter schools have shown promise in terms of providing better outcomes for those communities.
“There is a bright spot in Colorado is that some of the charter schools in Denver that serve predominantly communities of color, predominantly low-income students have one hundred percent graduation rates, the highest matriculation rate going into college, and are doing phenomenal work,” said Dr. Dickhoner.
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Learn more about Joe O’Dea’s campaign here.
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